SEPTEMBER 5, 2005

Klien to race for Red Bull in Spa

It seems that Tonio Liuzzi's chances of showing his worth to Red Bull Racing will be restricted to the last three races of the year. The team has just announced that it will field Austrian Christian Klien at the Belgian Grand Prix. One can read this announcement in many different ways but one thing that is quite certain is that assessing Klien and Liuzzi against one another at the end of the year is not going to be easy because Klien will have done 11 races and Liuzzi will have done seven (if he gets the last three). The comparison will also be skewed by the fact that Klien did an entire season of F1 last year and so is much more experienced.

There is no doubt that there is a lot of pressure inside the team to keep the Austrian there, even if many feel that Liuzzi, who let us not forget came to F1 as the most dominant Formula 3000 Champion in the history of the formula, is a better long-term option for the team. The signing of David Coulthard and Scott Speed for next year makes things more complicated because if Klien gets the second race seat, Liuzzi is not going to sit around being a second test driver. Red Bull has made vague noises about putting the spare driver(s) with other teams but if that is the case, it is hardly a vote of confidence in a young career and it is logical to suggest that the driver may conclude that he is better off as free agents. Speed tried this strategy and managed to convince Red Bull to give him what he wanted.

Liuzzi is a name which has been mentioned in connection with other teams and it is believed that BMW is very keen on the iconoclastic Italian. Williams has also tested the young Italian in the past.